I have not travelled that much in this year until now. At the beginning of september, I saw that Epica - my favourite band - was still selling tickets for their The Symphonic Synergy show in Amsterdam. So I spontanuously decided to take the bus to travel to the Netherlands.

I arrived in Amsterdam Sloterdijk on Thursday morning and went for a lengthy walk through the city, over all the canals and past the beautiful buildings that were built centuries ago.

One of the first things I noticed in Amsterdam were the flowers. They are everywhere along the Brouwersgracht and later the Prinsengracht. There are several flower boxes on every bridge, on every window and also on some street lamps and traffic signs. This gives the city a nice touch.

In the evening I then saw Epica’s show at the AFAS Live. It was fantastic! The whole show lasted about 2 hours 15 minutes and the band as well as the orchestra and choirs gave a great performance.

On Friday morning, I first took an Intercity train to Utrecht. Utrecht is one of the older cities in the Netherlands with a long and important history. There are many beautiful streets with old buildings. Apart from a few places in the centre, the city was not as crowded with tourists as Amsterdam.

In the second half of Friday, I continued my journey on the Intercity to Rotterdam. There I first explored some of the standard sights such as the Erasmusbrug or …

… the beautiful market hall and the harbor. Even with the view from the Euromast, I couldn’t quite grasp how large the harbor actually is.

On the evening tour through Rotterdam, the city seemed so vibrant. People were having fun on the streets everywhere. Finally, on the way to a bar, I stumbled across a small street party and decided to stay there.

When visiting the Netherlands, the windmills were of course a must. So on my last day, I traveled to Zaanse Schans. Even on the train ride, it was clear that this was a tourist hotspot, as it was the only station that was announced in English. Nevertheless, despite the many tourists, you could walk around the place relatively undisturbed.

On Saturday evening, I took a night bus back to Germany. Unfortunately, we were held up for about 45 to 60 minutes at a police checkpoint near the border. Thanks for that, travelling the European Union without restrictions was nice while it lasted.